The Duquesne University Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facility has become the state's first approved distributed generation system for creating Alternative Energy Credits (AECs) under Pennsylvania's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (AEPS) program.

The facility, which achieves overall efficiencies greater than 70 percent, qualifies as a Tier 2 energy source, generating 32,000 AECs—equivalent to 32,000 megawatt-hours of clean electric power. AECs represent the environmental attributes derived from generating electricity from renewable energy sources or from conserving electricity through energy efficient technologies. The credits can be sold or traded separately from the electricity itself, providing strong incentives for investing in clean energy sources, such as renewable energy and energy efficiency.

"The University has had a strong commitment to sustainability and has been an early adopter of clean technologies to efficiently light, heat, and cool the campus," said George Fecik, Duquesne’s executive director of Facilities Management. "Today, 100 percent of the energy consumed on campus is from clean energy sources."

Duquesne selected Nexant, the largest retail provider of environmental credit products and the leader in monetizing energy efficiency, to create environmental credits from qualifying campus projects. "Duquesne has championed a very forward-looking, green energy policy for quite some time," said Darrell Sandlin, manager of client services for Nexant Clean Energy Solutions. "And we are delighted to have been able to help the university qualify for this important designation and create these very valuable AECs."

Duquesne University

Founded in 1878, Duquesne is consistently ranked among the nation's top Catholic universities for its award-winning faculty and tradition of academic excellence. Duquesne, a campus of nearly 9,500 graduate and undergraduate students, has been nationally recognized for its academic programs, community service and commitment to sustainability. Follow Duquesne University on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.www.duq.edu